I think that the major obligation of parents and educators is to give children an understanding of the divine beginning that exists within them.
—William Ellery Channing
Cormac McCarthy talks about “carrying the fire” in his haunting novel The Road, which he wrote for his son. Alanis Morissette put her own spin on it in her beautiful song “Ablaze,” which she wrote for her two children.
“To my girl, all your innocence and fire,” she sings, “my mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze.” And to her son, whom she calls a precious gentle warrior, with all his wild energy, she sings the same thing.
Our job is to keep our kids the way they were born, which as The Road was written to show us, means fundamentally good. Innocent. Pure.
We have to help them carry the fire. We have to keep that light in their eyes ablaze. No matter how dark the world gets. In fact, we have to do it now, more than ever, because the world is dark. That’s our job. That’s our warrant.
If we fail . . . God help us.